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Better that than a Capitol-invading member of the Gravy Seals.

The most concerning part of that is the "flaming liberal" excerpt

This is why Katz is so enamored. Cease is his priority project. Huge upside.

If you look at Spotrac, you can see who the Sox have under contractual control over the next several years. Starting Lineup - SS Tim Anderson - 2021, 22, 23, 24 - 3B Yoan Moncada - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 - 1B Jose Abreu - 21, 22 - LF Eloy Jimenez - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 - C Yasmani Grandal - 21, 22, 23 - DH/1B - Andrew Vaughn - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 - CF Luis Robert - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 - RF Adam Eaton - 21, 22 - 2B Nick Madrigal - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Bench - Utility Leury Garcia - 21 - C Zack Collins - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 - OF Adam Engel - 21, 22, 23 - Extra bench player??? There could be room for another player here. Starting pitchers - Lucas Giolito - 21, 22, 23 - Dallas Keuchel - 21, 22, 23 - Lance Lynn - 21 - Dylan Cease - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 - Carlos Rodon - 21 - Reynaldo Lopez - 21, 22, 23 Bullpen - Liam Hendriks - 21, 22, 23, 24 - Aaron Bummer - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 - Evan Marshall - 21, 22 - Matt Foster - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 - Cody Heuer - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 - Jace Fry - 21, 22, 23 - Jimmy Cordero - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 - Zack Burdi -, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Transition Pitcher - Garrett Crochet - 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 - Michael Kopech - 21, 22, 24, 24, 25, 26 2021 Payroll allocation - $123M 2022 Payroll - $116M - no arb 2023 Payroll - $86M - 10 arb 2024 Payroll - $85M - 7 arb ************ Assuming they exercise options: In 2022, they could lose: Garcia, Lynn, Rodon In 2023, they could lose: Abreu, Eaton, Marshall In 2024, they could lose: Grandal, Engel, Giolito, Keuchel, Lopez, Fry I did this little exercise to see graphically where the Sox stand over the next few years. In 2022, the Sox will probably look to extend Lance Lynn. He will get a lot more than the $8M he's getting this year. Leury Garcia can likely be brought back if they like him for a similar number. Whether Rodon returns is a wild card. In 2023, will the Sox let Jose Abreu walk? Not likely. But Eaton and Marshall will likely be replaced. But this is the year when 10 players could hit arbitration, when salaries will rise quite a bit. In 2024, Grandal and Giolito will be up. Giolito has to be the priority. Grandal will likely need to be replaced. Engel, Keuchel, Lopez (if he's still around) and Fry can be replaced. Overall, the Sox appear to be in tremendous shape through the next 4 years with the core of their young players growing together. If the Sox stay on this plan, their payroll commitment will naturally increase over those 4 years as young players get into arbitration years and the Sox need to extend their best players, like Lucas Giolito. If pitchers Garrett Crochet and Michael Kopech turn into TOR starters, the Sox will be able to move on from Keuchel and Lynn, but that's not likely before 2024. From this, I think you can argue that the Sox should spend more money and raise their payroll commitments from the $120M range to a higher platform. But you can also argue that the Sox have done a great job with the money they have spent. They don't really have any bad contracts, and they have a lot of really good ones. I'm just excited that the core of this team is locked up for at least the next 4 years! GO SOX!!!

According to a reddit message board, Lucas Giolito has repeatedly told his dad that Dylan Cease could be the best pitcher the Sox have.

Don Cooper while reading the newspaper shouts over his shoulder "remember to stay closed"

I mean the stuff is obvious. Even if he fails for years, there will be teams who take shots at him because of that arm.

After seeing the above post, you should probably just walk away from this topic.

Hasn't anyone told the Dodgers that you only need 3 starting pitchers for the playoffs?

That’s less than expected. Good thing Sox were so adamant they were out, wouldn’t have wanted the Twins to have to pay more.

Cannot wait for the tweets after Twins sign Ozuna, Rosenthal, and Odorizzi about how we shouldn’t worry because “the Sox have more potential”, “Adam Eaton will turn it around” , “Andrew Vaughn is gonna be great”....

Considering I watched 6 baseball games, in-person, in Rosemont last July and August, no, I’m not gonna “live with that”. Can the virus tell the difference between Independent League and Major League? Or is the mile separation from Rosemont and Chicago the difference? May 1st at the latest, hence the owners desire to delay by one month.

I think it's hilarious that Don Cooper hasn't found a job yet, figuring how much people overhyped that dude

Really feels like Cooper was just stealing money the last couple of years

Kelley for sure and honestly I feel like they should cash out high on Crochet

Which prospects? They don't have any prospects to trade right now. NO minor league season killed their system and they didn't share data for whatever reason. I'm glad they kept mostly everyone. They'll have ammo for the deadline.

Giolito should stick to pitching and leave the evaluation stuff to SoxTalk.

A quote that will endear himself to his teammates, but not so much his agent.

Yeah, they never played against live pitching. You're a smart lil guy arencha

What if I told you that they did face live pitching in game situations at Schaumburg...

I think people will be SHOCKED at how good Vaughn is from day 1. In another thread I made a bold prediction that Vaughn will be the best overall hitter on the Sox this year. I think they'll start him lowish in the order (around 7) and after a couple weeks people will be complaining he's not hitting 3rd or 4th. The only player likely to have at bats consistently as good as Vaughn is Moncada.

Vaughn will be 23 in April . You hold him down for a year and he's 24 next year. It's time to start seeing what we have. He was supposed to be one of the best college bats in a long time. You can't keep delaying him because of Covid and not getting Minor League AB's. The Sox trust what they saw of him in Schaumburg enough that its reasonable to assume he's going to get a lot of AB's this year. You have superstars in the league putting up great number by 22 yrs old and younger in some cases. He needs to face MLB pitching now . And I say this as a guy who has always cautioned against expecting too much too soon for Vaughn.

Yeah, there is zero consideration of anyone other than themselves for a LOT of parents. They don't care about infection spread and the danger it could post to teachers, staff, bus drivers etc. Our school system didn't shutdown because of kids, they shut down because they ran out of healthy teachers due to them getting infected. But this has always been the case. Take a couple of Tylenol right before they get on the bus to hold the fever down as long as possible to get them through school, is a big time strategy in this crowd.

Humans are capable of saying things that aren’t true. Who knew?

*White Sox multiple championships window opens* 2020: Global pandemic, weird shortened season and bounced out in the first round of the playoffs 2021: Front office builds 80% of a roster, miss playoffs 2022: Strike 2023: ??? 2024: Profit. AMC and Game Stop finally hit $1000 a share and I buy a 51% ownership stake in the White Sox. 30 consecutive World Series championships.

It never made sense anyway.

There she blows

Bauer and Ozuna really need to sign somewhere to put me out of my misery...

All things being equal, Archer probably accepts 6.5M from the Rays over the Sox. But it still would have been nice to find out! Great dart throw by the Rays. Sigh.

Jerry needs to buy a bigger window

Yeah if I could get a front line starter, Andrew Vaughn is at the top of my list of our top prospects I would be wiling to deal. The Sox offense is loaded, and we have a lot of other 1B/DH types behind him, as well as that Abreu guy in front of him. It isn't hard to see a scenario where they have Eloy going to DH a year or two down the road.

ha I was thinking of a snappy comeback but your was better. good stuff

These next two weeks are going to be a flurry of signings. Here are a few names I'd like the Sox to consider whether it be on a minor league deal or a flier/small Major league deal. Tyler Flowers - I'm probably more comfortable than most to go in with Collins & Yermin, but seems like a natural fit if we go FA route Marwin Gonzalez - probably not a whole ton left in the tank - but fills a versatility role for cheap. One thing to note is his best of best years were during the cheating scandal I believe. So you're likely just getting a .250ba with a dozen homers. very avg. replaceable type guy, but can move around the field. id rather keep what we have than chase him. Villar - Not sure if he really has a role, but has played CF a few times over the year, 2b, DH, SS, etc. some versatility there and can swipe 30-40 bags. Don't know larussa's past on stealing - old school guy = steals? maybe. like marwin just a guy who can plug in a few spots and also has some pop. doubt his price and want to play everyday can be met with us, so long shot of a fit here. Cespedes - call me crazy - and this is a hunch - i think he signs a minor league deal with some incentives and is w the Sox in ST. I can see him wanting to play with his brother & this gives him an opportunity to do so during spring training. give him the option to opt out before the season starts. i also think he has at least a glimmer of an opening to DH for the Sox for a month or two - something I'm not sure he's going to find elsewhere either. I dont think people are knocking down his doors. Maybe you find lightning in a bottle. He'll be 35 but last time he really even played half a season was back in 2017. ST deal, 1 year, $1mm if he makes the roster. Can tie some incentives to it just in case he's good again or healthy. Shin Soo Choo - this one makes a ton of sense to me. lefty bat, even at 36 back in 2019 he batted .265 with an obp of .377 and ops of .826 - hit 24 homers, stole 15 bases. Wouldn't be surprised if you can get him on a deal like cespedes - just a year deal, $1-2mm. He can plug into rf and left field in a pinch, not well, but enough to hold down the fort for a few games if forced into action. Scooter Gennett - guy fell of the face of the earth sitting out last year. I'd explore. Rich Hill - been a huge fan of his - can bounce around starting and bullpen easily. Cole Hamels - not too far removed from earning that 1yr 18mm deal. can see him going for 6-8mm. know we explored him in the past. would be open to it

I know we think we have a really bad owner. But good lord that was a shit show.

I think this is true if all pitching coaches, I doubt he feels any of that pressure

So they spent 29m? If you add up the money they got rid of it’s likely that the outgoing players costs were more than the new player signings. so what they did is not big deal. Pretty much a wash. Big deal.

I don't think it was a terrible proposal, but if MLB was serious they wouldn't just be lobbing agreements over the fence and press releasing them to the public.

We should just keep a thread open for all these really shitty men who can’t act civilized around a woman. This guy should be out of a job within the next two days like the dude in New York.

So to be clear, Bauer being 30 is a concern for you, but you’re also concerned that if the Sox signed Bauer, they would be unable to re-sign a then 35 year old Lance Lynn?

I think I am the president of the Benyamin Bailey fan club. Hes a beast phsyically and has the potential to be very good defensively for his size. I think his swing needs to be re-done as it resembles a golf swing, but you cant teach 6'5 and athletic with plate discipline

So if it’s CBA as is, then no DH in the NL, no 7-inning double headers, no extra inning rule with man on 2nd, and five postseason teams per league with a one game knockout between wildcard teams. Cool.

Bauer and Mickey Callaway didn't get along huh? What if I were to tell you the Angels found a way to get rid of Mickey Callaway....

Oh I didn’t realize the only way to progress is to put up minor league stats... 🙄

EDIT: for reference, 145kph = ~90mph

So by your estimation, no pitchers should cross 200 innings this season because it wasn't done last season?

No way his BA will be anywhere near as low as Grandal. Vaughn should be 280-300.

He has an option and a small contract. There is no reason to cut him now.

In my first post on the forum I mentioned that the Cardinals are my primary team, but always root for the Sox in the AL. I also stated that I was frustrated with the Cards for their lack of will to win by adding talent this offseason and was more excited to watch the Sox than the Cards for the first time. While I’m still excited to watch what I think will be a great Sox team, I’m extremely happy to have been wrong about the Cardinals and see them make moves to win the division and not tread water hoping for the best.